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Borderland
In the Arik Soong's Augments In The Augments '' |image= |series= |production=40358-080 (404) |producer(s)= |story= |script=Ken LaZebnik |director=David Livingston |imdbref=tt0572179 |guests=Brent Spiner as Doctor Arik Soong, Alec Newman as Malik, Abby Brammell as Persis, Joel West as Raakin, Dave Power as Ensign Jeffrey Pierce, Big Show as Orion Slaver #1, J. G. Hertzler as Klingon Captain and Bobbi Sue Luther as Orion Slave Woman |previous_production=Home |next_production=Cold Station 12 |episode=ENT S04E04 |airdate=29 October 2004 |previous_release=Home |next_release=Cold Station 12 |story_date(s)= 17 May 2154 |previous_story=Home |next_story=Cold Station 12 }} =Summary= In May 2154, a pair of genetically enhanced humans, referred to as "Augments", leave their home planet and take control of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey warship after killing the crew. Amid threats and protests by the Klingons, Starfleet tasks the newly refurbished Enterprise to stop the culprits. Captain Archer visits disgraced scientist Doctor Arik Soong, imprisoned for stealing augmented embryos, and transfers him from a holding facility. On board, Soong soon recognises his augments are responsible for the actions on board the Klingon vessel, but does not know why. He convinces Archer that he will be able to order his "children" to stand down without a fight. Enterprise enters an area of space known as the "Borderland" between the territories of the Klingons and Orions. They are attacked by two Orion vessels and several crew members are captured, including T'Pol (newly granted the Starfleet rank of Commander). They are taken to a slave market and Archer is forced to ask for Soong's assistance to rescue his crew. After entering the market, the ship is able to beam most of the crew back, but when they try to release T'Pol's restraints, all of the prisoners in the slave market are released and chaos breaks out. Soong also attempts to escape, but Archer quickly returns him to Enterprise, where he demands that Soong take him immediately to the Augments. Soong refuses. On board the Klingon vessel, it is clear that the Augments consider Soong to be their "father". In a power-play, the Augment leader, Raakin, is tricked by Persis (who had been pretending to be devoted to him) and killed by his "brother" Malik. The Bird-of-Prey approaches Enterprise, saving them from a second Orion attack. The ships dock, and Malik requests the release of Soong from the brig—Archer refuses, but Malik forces him to comply. With Enterprise disabled, Soong announces that they now need to go and retrieve the remaining thousands of Augment embryos. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Stone Cold Steven Of None on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 8:58 pm: How could Enterprise just go to warp straight out of the chute? Wouldn't the same thing that happened in STTMP have happened here? Kirk, in his log entry then, said that going to warp drive while still within the solar system usually was not done. Captain Dunsel on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 9:35 pm: The anti-matter imbalance accident that occurred to Kirk's Enterprise in TMP only happened because the new engines had not been calibrated properly. Scotty made reference to needing more simulations run on the anti-matter flow sensors and being rushed through the final stages of preparation before leaving drydock. Spock made adjustments when he came on board and the ship accelerated to Warp 7 to intercept V'Ger. Presumably they were still within the solar system because they were at full stop after the accident and while Spock's shuttle docked. Kirk's reference to "risk{ing) warp drive while still in the solar system" was perhaps just indicative of their current location, not a prohibition against acceleration. Obviously, Trip had enough time to balance NX-01's engines so no temporal/spatial distortion occcured. # LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:00 pm: This episode marks, I believe, the first mention on the series of the Eugenics Wars. The Undesirable Element on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 12:19 am: Actually, Archer mentions that his great-grandfather (or something like that) fought in the Eugenics Wars in Hatchery. # I also believe this is the first time we’ve seen subcutaneous emergency transponders since Patterns of Force (TOS), which for some reason, were never seen during the TNG era. Sparrow47 on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 12:09 pm: I think they were also seen in Who Watches the Watchers?. Could be wrong about that. ''LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 10:45 pm:'' It’s not mentioned in the Encyclopedia, and if they had them, wouldn’t they have beamed Troi when the Mintakans took her prisoner? Summerfield on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 5:26 pm: She definitely had a communicator implanted in her neck for that episode; all through her incarceration she kept 'um-hm'ing and 'uh-uh'ing in response to Picard's questions. Troi didn't feel imminently threatened, and chose to stay there for the time-being, IIRC. It's established that communicators double as locators, hence Worf always taking his off when he goes AWOL. Dan Gunther on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 9:47 pm: And they didn't beam her up straight away in order to minimize the cultural contamination. It wouldn't do to have a whole village of Mintakans witness Troi dematerializing into thin air. # Did the Orions actually venture into the Delphic Expanse? Have races from the Expanse ventured out into the Borderland? I ask, because right before Archer finds T’Pol in her cage in Act 2, we see an alien directly behind her who looks just like Tarquin from Exile. Perhaps the races in the expanse are travelling further out, following the disappearance of the clouds marking the boundary. # There’s no reason for Reed and that MACO to have obeyed Malik’s orders to lower their weapons when he grabbed Archer’s throat in Act 4. Malik’s head was exposed, and Reed could’ve simply shot him. Captain Dunsel on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:12 pm: Perhaps he was just not willing to risk his captain's life. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 1:58 am: My point is that he wouldn’t have had to. He had clear shot at Malik. Is Malik’s ability to squeeze his hand faster than a phaser beam? Roque Ja on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 4:36 pm: Reed easily could've used the stun setting during the hostage situation. Chris Booton (Cbooton) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 3:52 pm: I can think of three good reasons why Malcolm didn't shoot Malik. 1) We've seen that weapons have little effect on these guys. IIRC, the MACO's weapons barley phased them (if you'll excuse the term) nor did the Klingons weapons. Malcolm may not know this, so this point may not be valid. 2) Assuming they did shoot Malik in the head, that still requires one heck of a good shot, something that Starfleet personnel aren't exactly known for. It's also possible that if Malik didn't die right away that he'd have enough time to snap archers neck. I wouldn't want to risk this. Josh M on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 5:10 pm: Reed's nearly at point blank. I don't think he'd miss that. 3) There is also the wrath of his fellow augments. Considering they have a powerful warship at their disposal. Assuming Malcolm did save Archer and killed Malik, his people are going to be rather perturbed about that and might destroy Enterprise in retaliation. # Why couldn’t Archer struggle? SeniramUK 12:55, December 1, 2018 (UTC) Malik’s grip could be strong enough to convince Archer that, if provoked, the Augment will strangle him without hesitation. # The Undesirable Element on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 12:19 am: Did Archer's lawyer have such a rough time on Rura Penthe that he decided to change his career and become a starship captain? The Klingon portrayed by J.G. Hertzler at the very beginning bears a striking resemblance to the aforementioned lawyer. :) Probably a relative. # Did it seem to anyone else that the Augments were really vocal about their past. They seemed to constantly reference things that happened to all of them. (Almost like they were saying things for the benefit of an audience...) LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 1:58 am: It seemed fine to me. Sometimes exposition can be well-done, and I think it was here. # Given that Soong is clever enough to escape a prison using nothing but a glorified Gameboy, why is security so lax when he is transferred to the Enterprise. He also seems to be a bit nuts. I was surprised he wasn't in a straightjacket. (As mentioned by someone else, he should have been under MACO watch while on the planet) LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 1:58 am: How so? Besides, geniuses are sometimes eccentric. # The Undesirable Element on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 12:19 am: # Why does T'Pol remain in her catsuit even though she has been given a Starfleet commission. She's got the commander's pips and the Enterprise patch. Why no uniform? LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 1:58 am: This was unclear to me. They didn’t say she was given a Starfleet commission. Her promotion may have been as a member of the High Command, which may have accepted her back in. But I think this should’ve been clearer. Rene on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 5:37 am: They did make it clear. LAST WEEK! ' # ''Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 3:11 am: I thought T'Pol's agreement with her husband was to spend a year on Vulcan? Has a year passed since Home? ''Rene on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 12:41 pm:'' Nope. T'Pol told Trip last week she's been negotiating with the family, and they would allow her to remain on Enterprise for the time being.' # When they first mentioned the Orion Syndicate in a DS9 epsiode I assumed that the Orion Pirates had reorganized. Mention of the Orion Syndicate here indicates that the Orion Pirates from TOS weren't, apparently, affiliated with the Syndicate since we never heard of the Syndicate in TOS. 'Thande on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 4:06 am: I'm going to be very evil and invoke the Animated Series episode The Pirates of Orion even though it's not canonical. In that the pirates were said to be secretly working for their government, but always self-destructed their ships if caught, sacrificing their lives so that their government's neutrality was not compromised (and thus pretending to be rogue privateers). If we can say that this government was presumably the Syndicate, then it all makes sense.' # ''Kazeite on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 7:53 am: Phlox injects transponder into Soong's neck, but when Soong uses the pain stick to disable it, he points at his throat. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 11:00 pm: I reviewed the two shots, and it doesn't seem possible to discern any significant difference, particularly since in the first shot, when Phlox injects it, we can't exactly see the tip of the hypo make contact with Soong's skin. Kazeite on Monday, November 01, 2004 - 10:15 am: I was able to discern the difference, however. Phlox doesn't put the hype to Soong's throat. LUIGI NOVI on Monday, November 01, 2004 - 6:25 pm: He puts it to pretty much the same area that Soong later puts the stick to, and we can’t even see the exact point at which he injected it, because it’s in shadow. # Roque Ja on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 4:36 pm: I'm still a bit annoyed and puzzled by Arik Soong being a villian. He's never been mentioned before, right? I can understand why they cast Spiner as Noonien's ancestor. (It's kinda dumb to have an identical grandson or something, but there is precedent.) And sure, he's a genius. Okay. But a bad guy? There had better be some sort of redemption here. Otherwise it'd be like revealing that one of Scottie or LaForge's ancestors was a serial killer or train robber or something. Rene on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 7:19 pm: And? What's wrong with that? LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 10:45 pm: And? What’s wrong with that? Having an ancestor who was a criminal, serial killer or train robber doesn’t reflect on the descendant. Anonymous on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 10:52 pm: True... Though I seriously doubt we'll ever see a Lt. Commander Hitler. ;) Roque Ja on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 11:11 am: Well, true. I'm the first one to deny the sins of the father garbage. It's just odd for the villian to be an ancestor of a hero. Especially a hero who sacrificed his own life. (Of course, Lore was bad news too.) The broader point is this: Is the linkage with Noonien Soong and Data cricuial? What differnce would it have made for Arik to have some other name, aside from not being able to cast Spiner in the role? (What if he was, instead, Arik Daystrom? Or Arik Nechayev? Or Arik Braxton? Or Arik Sulu?) # Also, would renegade humans *really* start a war with the Klingons? Couldn't the Earth government, or Starfleet or someone tell them, "Oh, them? They're criminals. Go get 'em. Don't worry about extradition, either." (I suppose the Klingons could just be itching for even the flimsiest pretense.) The Klingons may not be willing to restrict themselves to attacking augments. # Josh M on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 11:17 am: T'Pol's in Starfleet? Wasn't it established that Spock was the first Vulcan in the organization? Rene on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 12:41 pm: Nope. Never was established. It's a myth. Season 2 TOS featured an all-Vulcan Starfleet crew. Thande on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 12:55 pm: Rene has a very good point there, one that I think I made on the TOS boards: how can Spock be the first Vulcan in Starfleet if the entire crew of the USS Intrepid, including the captain, is Vulcan? LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 10:29 pm: The “Was Spock the first Vulcan in Starfleet” question was discussed on the Countdown board, spurred by T’Pol’s statement to Archer over dinner in the closing scene of Act 2 of that ep that she’s considering formalizing her service to Starfleet. Harvey Kitzman argued that Spock was said to be the first Vulcan in Starfleet. The Undesirable Element and ScottN asserted that this had never been explicated stated, and pointed out that in The Immunity Syndrome (TOS), the Intrepid was manned completely by Vulcans, which they felt disproved this notion. Justin O’Donnell consulted The Star Trek Encyclopedia on this, and quoted it as saying that Spock was the first Vulcan to enlist in the “Federation Starfleet,” and asserted that because the quote was worded this way, and because the Starfleet seen on this series is the pre-Federation Starfleet, that they are two separate organizations, and that if T’Pol were to join, technically she’d be joining Earth’s Starfleet, not the Federation one that Spock joined. Personally, I don’t buy this rationalization, and regard it as the same organization, and that the planetary organization that has jurisdiction over it changed. The use of the word “Federation” before “Starfleet” is simply used descriptively, not as a historical qualifier, since the pre-Federation existence of Starfleet established by Enterprise was not known at the time the Encyclopedia was written. Moreover, I think the Encyclopedia passage requires some clarification. The Encyclopedia usually cites an episode or movie as reference for each data point therein, but it is unclear if it actually does so for this particular point. This is the passage in the entry for Spock in the Encyclopedia that starts off the third paragraph: Aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise: Spock was the first Vulcan to enlist in the Federation Starfleet, and he distinguished himself greatly as science officer aboard the original U.S.S. Enterprise. His logical Vulcan thought-patterns proved of tremendous value when Spock first served aboard the Enterprise during the command of Captain Christopher Pike. (The Menagerie TOS). Spock said he worked with Pike for 11 years, 4 months, which suggest he was young enough when he first came aboard the Enterprise that he was probably still attending Starfleet Academy. Now The Menagerie (TOS) is cited as the reference for this passage, but is it referring simply to his service with Pike (which is referenced in that episode), or does it also provide reference for his status as the first Vulcan in Starfleet? In fact, I reviewed that episode, and while the teaser of that episode mentions Spock’s service with Pike, no such thing about him being the first Vulcan in Starfleet is ever stated. # LUIGI NOVI on Monday, November 01, 2004 - 6:25 pm: In the teaser, after subduing the Klingon guards at the airlock, Malik and Saul go to the bridge, and when the door to the bridge opens, they’re holding their weapons down at their side. Doing this gives time for the Klingons to raise their weapons. Malik and Saul manage to raise theirs in time to presumably kill them, but it was dumb not to walk in with their weapons already raised. Being Augments, they were arrogant enough to believe they would get away with it. # During the slave revolt in Act 3, the Orion auctioneer tries to grab a fleeing T’Pol, and rather than apply neck pinch, she wrenches herself away from him and kicks him in the groin. There may not have been enough time for a neck pinch – assuming it would even work on the Orion auctioneer in the first place! # Hans Thielman on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 4:49 pm: I wonder why Soong is in a Starfleet prison. Was he in Starfleet or a civilian when he stole the embryos? Anonymous on Thursday, December 16, 2004 - 11:27 pm: Well, since he worked at Deep 13, er... I mean, Cold Station... something, and the doctors at the station all had starfleet type patches on their lab coats, I’da say he's at least under their jurisdiction somehow. Jesse on Friday, November 14, 2008 - 6:53 am: This sets up a dangerous precedent, making the future Earth one that I'm not sure I'd care to live in. In democratic countries, beginning with the United States, military prisons were exclusively for uniformed members of the armed forces. A person working for the armed forces in as a civilian, an adviser, or a "tech-rep" (a term used in the US military today, meaning the technical representative from the contractor supplying a weapon or other device) might work at military facilities and even sometimes wear military-type uniforms (for example, tech-reps in the US Navy who are sent to a ship or base often wear Navy khakis with no rank insignia). This does not mean that, if they committed a crime in the course of their duties, they would be tried by court-martial and sentenced to a military prison. In the US, they would be tried in US federal court and serve their time in federal prison. So Arik Soong should be either (a) in an Earth-wide prison system run by some civilian agency akin to the US Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons or (b) in the United States prison system, seeing as how he is in California (he mentions Sausalito). Cyber (Cybermortis) on Friday, November 14, 2008 - 7:59 am: Just because Soong is being guarded by Starfleet does not mean they were the ones who sentenced him. Starfleet jails may be the maximum security facilities, with Civilian jails having far lower security. Since it was noted that Soong had escaped from this facility at least once, it would be reasonable to assume he'd have little difficulty escaping from a lower security facility. If so he could have been moved from a Civilian Jail to a Starfleet one. # Rona on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 3:44 pm: During the auction of the Orion slave woman, there was at least one woman seen furiously bidding. Was she interested in the slave for herself? Anonymous on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 8:53 pm: Maybe she wanted a gift for her husband. Hey, who says there aren't still swingers in the future? Jerry Seinfeld on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 9:26 pm: Maybe she did want the slave for herself. Not that there's anything wrong with that. # ken on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 3:39 pm: This is for all 3 episodes of this arc. Soong and Archer were pretty incompetent throughout. I don't remember why Soong left the kids on that planet? He should have been able to find like-minded people to watch the kids while he left; or he should have stayed on the planet and this story arc would never have happened. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 7:13 am: Because he was arrested and thrown in jail. # He should have taught them about Earth history and what happens when one group thinks they're better than everybody else. Josh M on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 4:43 pm: But isn't that what Soong believed? Didn't be think that the Augments were better than the rest of the human race? # Smike got his nickname from a Dickens novel; I wonder what else they were reading and what they learned from what they read? They should have read Lord of the Flies and had a long discussion with Soong about that novel. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 7:13 am: Learning history doesn’t mean that one necessarily learns its lessons, even if they’re illustrated explicitly. Such patterns tend to repeat themselves precisely because people often think, “Oh, that’s not me,” or “Oh, that can’t happen here.” ''' # Soong should have been studying psychology enough to predict which of the kids is going to grow up to be immoral and rebellious. He should have been teaching the other kids how to stand up to would be bullies and tyrants. ''LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 7:13 am:'' First, he’s a genetic engineer, and therefore he did not necessarily have the background or education in psychology, or even the inclination to gain any. Second, studying psychology does not mean that you can predict adult personalities solely from observation of the child. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 7:13 am: Good point. Perhaps the transporter can’t target objects moving too fast in the 2150’s? Thande on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 11:15 am: Maybe it's more a case of size limitations, particularly with the 22nd century transporter. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 11:54 am: Well, Ken suggested beaming parts of it, which would work, right? You could either beam vital chunks of its propulsion systems, or its contagioius payload (though I'm not sure if they'd have to isolate the transporter chamber to prevent infection of the ship's crew, or if it doesn't materialize as matter long enough before re-beaming it back into space.) ScottN on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 12:19 pm: I thought they *did* do something like that in one episode (the one where they steal the warp coil)?' # ''Anonymous on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 4:09 am: Why do clearly Euro/American people like these Soong characters have such Asian or Oriental sounding names? Brent Spiner didn't look that way to me in this latest role or as Data's dad in his younger days. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 2:11 pm: Because they had an Asian ancestor somewhere on the paternal half of their family, perhaps a father or grandfather. Look at Bruce Lee's kids, Brandon and Shannon. Shannon looks only slightly Asian, and Brandon barely looked Asian at all. # Anonymous on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 4:15 am: Plus, while a genetic superman may have had twice the human lifespan in 1992, but by 2154 he probably only has a 50% longer lifespan. Anyway, I don’t see how a person could have 5x normal human strength wthout the increased mass to go along with it - and they didn't seem too heavy to me. Old Comic Fan on Friday, April 15, 2005 - 1:23 am: Perhaps they spliced in the genes of a radioactive spider? Thande on Sunday, April 24, 2005 - 12:59 pm: I checked the research and I think it's possible. The downside being that 5x strength means (at least) 5x the energy requirements. Mind you, I suppose they could throw in a more efficient digestive system too. :) Category:EpisodesCategory:Enterprise